The DVD The Dick Cavett Show - Ray Charles Collection aggregates footage from three Dick Cavett Shows, all recorded on 2 days in '72, and aired in '72 and '73: a. on 26 June 1972, b. on 26 January 1973, and c. on 9 July 1973.
The tunes #1 - 3 were part of the show that aired on 26 June 1972; #4 - 11 were taped in September 1972 and aired in the show of 26 Januari 1973; #12 - 14 were taped in September 1972 and aired in the show of 9 July 1973.

On January 7, 1973 ABC used an ad to announce a "new idea in late night television", under the umbrella title ABC Wide World of Entertainment. Part of that concept was a series of 90-minute "solo" guest appearances, with extensive interviews, to be aired in the week, starting on Monday, January 22. One of these was the second show with Ray Charles.
It's a riddle why some tunes (#1/9, #4/12) and the 'duets' on Am I Blue (# 3/11/14) were performed twice or even three times. They were not repeated, but were presented in new renditions, without any explanation of or comments on the repetition, neither by Cavett or by Charles. Were they really all broadcast in this form? Were the shows (a, and b/c) parts of different series? Were they syndicated to different stations? David Ritz' liner notes and content descriptions aren't entirely clear either:

Cavett was a splendid host, his repeated attempts to master Am I Blue were hilarious (and according to one story, made Sarah Vaughan laugh for four days after she saw it), and the aggregated results including the interview parts is marvelous.

A caption to a couple of set photos put up for sale on Ebay specified: "this is from a collection of 105 photos [...] taken from the ABC studio band pit by one of the Cavett house band's sax players but he does not identify himself. [...] Members of the band he names in the photos are Charley Small, Chauncey Welsh, Ray Crisara trombones, Tommy Kay guitar, Milt Hinton bass, George Duvivier bass, Bob Rosengarden drums, Boomie Richman, Phil Bodner tenor sax, and a couple other sax guys are only identified as Sid and Harvey. I think the guy who took these pics was an alto sax player."

Studio vs Live

"If it's really something good that was not on the record, that's okay, because when I perform I can make the performance of the song better than the record was."

The Genie

Ray Charles at the Apollo (Oct. 1959), working on his Wurlitzer. Photo by Alex Harsley.

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About

The Ray Charles Video Museum is a research project, documenting live performances by The Genius.

This blog is above all aMediagraphy. It's also a discography (or, more correctly, a trackography), aggregating all tunes that Ray sang and/or played - including the "canon" of 700 tracks listed on the official Ray Charles website, but also identifying the songs that have never been officially released, and e.g. the recordings of other artists, where Ray backed them on piano. Thirdly, this blog has evolved into a multimedia Chronology (click the years in the panel al the top of this page) of Ray's productive live.

I also try to do some justice to the more than 1,000 great musicians and singers who contributed to Ray's career (1, 2).

The Quotes page lists the wisest, craziest and funniest things that the Genius ever said. If you want to read more about Brother Ray, go here.

The availability of the streaming video and audio content on this blog is constantly under pressure. Some rights owners still think that sharing these videos damages their sales. I'm keeping disfunctional clips as placeholders - to show that the footage exists, and to replace them when new uploads appear on the Web.

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The Bishop Of Atlanta - Ray Charles

The Bishop seduces the world with his voice
Sweat strangles mute eyes
As insinuations gush out through a hydrant of sorrow
Dreams, a world never seen
Mounded on Africa's anvil, tempered down home
Documented in cries and wails
Screaming to be ignored, crooning to be heard
Throbbing from the gutter
On Saturday night
Silver offering only,
The Right Reverend's Back in Town
Don't it make you feel all right?